What makes her post almost unbearably poignant is that she was among the fatalities in the Aurora, Colorado, shooting at the midnight screening of the new Batman movie. Having escaped one horrific tragedy in Toronto by the narrowest of margins, she fell victim only a month later to an eerily similar crime in another city.

Does this speak to the increasing level of random and crazy violence in our society? To the existence of a predestined fate we cannot escape - "a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will"? To both the power and the limitations of psi?

Comments

I just read that post. It does sound like she had a genuine premonition. Not the sort of thing you can prove scientifically, but real nevertheless.

Can't answer your questions, Michael. But the experience in Toronto affected her deeply. And considering what she says she learned from it, her presence at that tragedy may have been a gift of sorts, helping to prepare her for her own passing just a short time later.

If, as some say, we come to Earth with "missions" - karmic agreements that are made during the pre-life stage - I find it very likely that hers was specifically to avoid death in the first instance and meet it in the second as a way of sending a message through this very highly-publicized event.

What that message is I'm not sure, but perhaps that's up to each of the millions who receive it.

I have read and enjoyed the books on synchronicity by Judith Leventhal and Yitta Halberstam, called-

"SMALL MIRACLES".

They are very simply written, but poignant, and uplifting as synchronicities often are.

In my own life they frequently happen, and often it seems when those above want to get in touch.

Some 12 years ago when my mother and sister were visiting Thailand for my daughters graduation. We took an overnight train north and when we got on the train, there was a Chinese man sitting in the opposite booth.

My mother being polite, struck up a conversation.

"Do you live here " she said.
I was a bit amused as at that time, most Thais and Chinese people would not be expected to speak English.

He stops and thinks for a bit, then answers in English with a soft American accent.

"Actually I'm kind of here to work".

'Oh, what work do you do" says mother.

He deliberates for a bit. Then..

"I'm attending a psychic fair"

"Oh", pipes up my sister. "Lynns into a bit of that. weren't you wanting to speak to a psychic"?

Well I was actually, having not seen one for 3 years and not yet psychically developed myself.

A smile crosses his face, and he answers.

"I was late today, and in my fluster I sat in the wrong seat".

He points to me..

"You are in my seat. This is the 6th train, and the 6th carriage and you are in the 6th seat." "So come over here and I'll have a chat to you".

Hi.
I think that we have a kind of warnings before the central events of our lives do really happen. Before losing our 6 y.o. child, we'd already lost a baby girl, born untimely. Our grief was huge, but not as big as for the loss of our son, ten years later. I think that our first baby's death was a kind of "run through" and similar cases happen to many people, in different kinds of human miseries. We're here to experience many categories of losses (relatives, friends, lovers, money, job, ownerships, etc.), the last one is our physical body at death.

Michael she may've suffered from a state I can only describe as Inner Collapse.

When my father went into hospital with a skin condition in his nineties he rapidly developed all kinds of complications including three bouts of pneumonia each of which we were told would finish him off.

But while all this was going on I was experiencing visitations by an entity I can only call Death and each time Dad survived it would clamp itself on and crushingly wrap itself around my back area exactly like the Old Man of the Sea in the Sinbad tale 'rebuking' me for supposedly using my personal 'will' to interfer with a supposedly natural process.

Finally it came to me for a forth time this time presenting me with the rational 'argument' it wasn't for me to decide whether Dad should live or die but Dad himself and since till that moment it'd never occurred to me me Dad mightn't want to go on in a state of ever increasing pain and decrepitude I finally 'yielded' [Inwardly Collapsed] whereupon the hospital phoned up in the early hours of a sunday morning to tell us he was gone (just a few hourse before he was due to be released).

Over the years I've had numerous inetractions with 'Death' (or whatever it is) including having it seemingly bring the spirit of a child a friend was right that moment in the process of losing elsewhere (though at first I thought it was her father) but our 'relationship' seemed to end when one day it came to 'tell' me a certain young person was shortly scheduled to die and I was to do nothing to interfer.

And at first drowning in appalling grief as I was shown the events to come infolding in the air before me (to the degree of even hearing the individual call for me with their last breath) I found myself keeling over and succumbing [Inwardly Collapsing] until I suddenly remembered Don Juan Matus's instructions to Carlos Castenada one should always fight Death to one's last breath and only yield when all else's failed whereupon I suddenly found myself leaping to my feet and roaring out the loudest shout I ever emitted in my entire life calling "INTENT!" (probably waking the entire neighbourhood in the process).

Even then I still had to wait what seemed an eternity of grief racked days (especially when someone who might be the police knocked or rang) until the following Thursday to find out everything'd worked out alright.

I mention this here as someone who's both been shown many supposed glimpses of the future and had countless run-ins with many different types of critters who seem to operate on the 'vampire crossing the threshold premise' ie they seem to require some kind of permission or inner capitulation on our parts before they can really go to town on us hence my suggestion not to reject such such things (which only brings on a whole world of pain in itself) but most definitely not to accept them especialy their 'message'.

I think we can expect that as money, resources and power becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small class indifferent to those around them, we can expect more random increases of violence as people begin feeling more hopeless. This is likely to continue. (Case in point: for the first time in the U.S., we actually have a man running for president who has stashed away his cash in offshore bank accounts - there, it's hardly being used to invest in the U.S. and "create jobs"). This combined with, easy legal access to military-class weaponry, indicates we'll continue seeing this. This isn't a premonition, it is just something one glean from even a brief look at history.

Kathleen, I was reading today an article in the Bangkok Post on Colorado. It talked of the liberal gun laws there - that it wasn't an offense to carry an unlicensed gun in a vehicle, pickup truck etc, or into a university. And it was also legal to not wear a helmet while riding a motorbike. An interesting article if people would like to read it, on his opinion why it happened and is likely to in the future.

alanborky, I know this thing you are talking about. I agree there is something to this idea of "inner collapse". I've seen it, felt it, even smelled it. And I've seen it happen to loved ones and friends within a few months of their deaths, whether by illness, accident or other causes.

The premonitions or omens are often there. Once they are apparent it is usually too late. One's fate is sealed.

This is where I deviate from a lot of NDE culture and go pure Native American; especiall Athabascan culture where personal power and withcraft play a prominent role.

I am not sure that there are loving beings of light that necessarily look after us and ensure that a life plan is fullfilled as NDE culture would have believe. I have a more spooky perspective. I think that we do use our "intent" to focus our awareness and where we focus that awareness determines whether we a drawing sufficient energy to keep going, or if we are losing energy and falling prey to negative, perhaps even malevolent forces.

I have both personally been told by men who have been in heavy combat, and I've read the same in some accounts, that they could tell when a comrade was going to die. The marked man would become sullen and withdrawn and the features of his face would become soft and a little blurry. Often the man would have a premonition himself that he would not make it through the day. Sure enough, within a few hours he would be KIA.

One man, who had been an infantry officer in VN, stated that he once saw the signs on of his enlisted troops and told the man he could sit the patrol out, but the man insisted he pull his weight. Later that day he was shot and killed by a sniper; the only casualty in the platoon that day.

Just one personal example: My mother was killed in an airline disaster 25 years ago. I not only had a clear premonition of this a couple months prior (she and everyone else ignore my warnings), but there were other signs, like her apartment smelled, to me at least, like something had died in there. I commented on it to her. She, a perfectionist in the realm of neatness and cleanliness, couldn't detect any oder; nor could other guests. It persisted right up until the week she died. After her death, the oder was gone. Due to life circumstances she clearly had given up and experienced an inner collapse.

I have also seen people kind of come to some crossroads in life where they seem to make a decision somewhere inside that they've had enough. Sometimes the crossroad is the death of a spouse. They don't come out and necessarily state this is clear terms, but you can kind of see it all the same. It's a subtle thing. They begin drifting a little. Within a year or two some illness or accident overtakes them.

IMO, Jessica Ghawi was marked. Some inner decision was made. The Toronto close encounter was her testing the waters, dipping a toe in, then stepping back. But she could only cheat death that one time. A perspective at any rate and definitely an interesting case.

The flip side is that if someone else at the theater had taken advantage of the liberal gun laws, there might have been a lot less people hurt and killed. Someone could have shot the perpetrator before he got off his first few rounds.

There will always be crazy people that flip out and kill. These people don't care if it's illegal to carry. Only law abiding citizens are impacted by such laws. The person planning a killing spree isn't going to worry about an add on charge of illegal carry of a gun.

There will always be guns in the US that crazy people can access. That's just a fact of life in the US.

Before being involved in a head-on collision that led to an NDE in my late 20's, I cleaned the house, paid all my bills and had made sure everything that needed doing was done. I also went through one of the longest conversations with myself about whether or not to go out that day. But it was such a beautiful day and I couldn't resist going to the park.

Every year on the anniversary of the NDE I go through that same odd cleaning frenzy the night before. I hate the idea of leaving a mess behind.

I have experienced odd delays and detours that in retrospect appear to have been "designed" to put me in a particular place at a particular time.

And once I had a very clear premonition of the death of a friend.

I was living in Tokyo at the time, but scheduled to leave soon. I had just spent the evening with two friends for the last time before my departure. We were standing outside our favorite coffee shop, saying our good-byes. Giles, a straggle-haired young Frenchman, sensitive and wise for his age, about 30 then, got on his motorcycle and drove off. As I stood there watching the lights on the motorcycle grow smaller and dimmer, I was suddenly overcome by a very deep sadness. Inexplicably, I felt I would never see Giles again. A year later, he left Japan via the same route I had (China to Russia to Europe) and was killed in a car accident in France.

In a much, much smaller but similar vein, there's this story of a woman who almost opened the door and entered James Holmes' house because of the loud music he had left blaring as he was on his way to his massacre.
"Something told her" not to do it. Of course, that "something" may have simply been common sense and caution, but she had already tested the door and knew it was loose.

I first heard this story on the radio, and it jumped out at me because of the way she sounded as she described it. She didn't openly credit any spiritual or supernatural cause, but then, right now I imagine the good folks of Aurora probably don't want to hear anything crazy. They've overloaded with it.

The printed press reports seem to portray her backing away from opening the door as fear that Holmes might be home, but in the audio version I heard, I could swear she used the expression "something told me not to".
Then again, isn't intuition and presentiment just an enhanced form of common sense?

Lynn, the guy was wearing SWAT gear and had an assault weapon with 100 rounds of ammo. He was wearing a helmet, throat protector, bullet-proof vest and more. I don't see how a casually dressed civilian with a handgun and no military training, in a dark theater, would bring him down.

It is not bullet proof at all. Nor is the ballistic helmet or throat protector. These items are riot geat designed to protect against fists, clubs, thrown bottles, rocks, etc. They certainly will not stop a bullet fired from a 9mm or higher caliber handgun.

Anyone who carries a gun should be trained to use it effectively, whether this be mil training or some other source.

I can relate. I could have been killed at the Tucson AZ shooting last year. I was planning to go to the store to buy some filet mignon before taking a trip to LA later in the day. As a big Gabriel Giffords fan I would have surely been hanging out with her if I had seen her. I live down the street from where it occurred and it's the Safeway I typically shop at.

The only thing that stopped me was a decision to go back to bed around the time i would have left, which would have put me in the crossfire.

Not a premonition, but it clearly wasn't my destiny to die in that shooting.

Wow. If somebody could, it would be very interesting to work out the likelihood of such phenomena occurring(how many people from toronto visit the eaton centre, how many torontonions visit Denver, ratio of people in denver killed in shotting ext ext) I presume the odds would be astronomical. Speaking of synchronicity, would readers mind outlining there views of God.

||I am on the left, but I agree that gun control in the US is mostly useless as understood by the left. In some societies like Japan, which have had success with it until now, it is probably the best choice. Not here.

That said, the same kind of thing happens in Japan--with knives instead of guns. Of course, there was also the 1995 subway terror attack there too. I won't go into details, as I would prefer not to pass along any ideas.

Crazies have numerous low-tech ways to kill a bunch of people. Turning the US into *more* of a police state to try--and fail--to get rid of all the guns would be just another security farce.||

As for the person who avoided one shooting but not another, here's another perspective (not saying it's right in her case): Couldn't such a person have had a premonition in *both* cases but chose not to experience one and then chose to experience the other?

Psi doesn't always protect us. Sometimes it gives us the power to face or experience what we on one level (but perhaps not others) do not "want" to face or experience.

It seems obvious to me that we should ban assault and automatic weapons. There is no need for any citizen to have these. I wouldn't own a gun myself, but if I lived out alone in the country, I'd consider owning a handgun (although a good security system would probably be more effective). If I was hiking through bear country, I'd bring a gun. That's it.

As for premonitions, there was that story about the kid who told his teacher about a premonition he had the day before 9/11. She reported it to the FBI after 9/11, he was so on the mark. It was pretty eerie if I remember correctly.

Matt, ah...I forgot about Michael's Autocracy Blog:. Silly me, I should have known it would cover this event. That is the right place for the political discussion. I agree with your comments and Michael's thoughts (as they are the same as mine) on his post. For some reason I am having trouble signing up to post comments. I need a new fun time computer, I think, as I am also having technical trouble with my own blog dev. project. I don't use my work computer for any of this.

Briefly, I am not impressed with countries that have strict gun control. These countries have a long histories of being subjugated by kings, emperors, dictators, etc. It's in their blood - their ethos - to be subjugated.

Then, periodically, these people go on bloody rampages to purge the ruling class and/or govt. These countries also have a history of going on incendiary rampages that kill off a generation of their own and their neighbors' young every few decades. I'm talking about the enlightened Europeans and their supposed haute culture. Then they call on the gun toting "barbarians" from across the Atlantic to save them from themselves.

Revolution is something that happens. Always has, always will.

The People need guns, even assualt weapons (maybe especially), to ensure they can take back freedom by force if need be. It's part of being an American. Sometimes reality is ugly.

"Psi doesn't always protect us. Sometimes it gives us the power to face or experience what we on one level (but perhaps not others) do not "want" to face or experience."

True words, IMO. I keep coming back to this idea that I see - or at least I think I see - in a lot of folks interested in paranormal that spirituality or psi or paranormal experience or something similar will make them physically safe, happy and healthy. My experience, which may the the result of some dismal personal failing or prediliction, is that it is more of a double edged sword.

These mass killings happen in every place one can imagine. Norway is the last place one would expect such a thing to occur, but it wasn't immune after all. These types of crimes suggest a sickness that isn't going to be addressed by gun control. Serial killers and mass murderers can always find a different methodology to do what they do.

Personally, I'm in favor of gun control up to a point. I don't see the need for hand guns and automatic weapons for use by the general population. But I was also against the now defunct long gun registry in Canada because it was turning Aboriginal hunters and rural Canadians into criminals just for continuing on with life as usual.

Gang violence in Toronto can be addressed by getting handguns off the street. There is a certain logic to gangs, a reasoning behind what they do no matter how immoral it might be. Gangs can be dealt with based on the reasoning behind what they do. But what happened in Aurora is different, there is no reason that can account for what happened there.

I'm not into Liberal or Conservative pieties--or any other kinds of pieties. I always *try* to think things through for myself.

Just a thought experiment. The US government really tries to get rid of all the handguns. Let's say it's fairly successful and gets rid of 75% of the guns that in criminals' hands (I'd say that's a *really* optimistic hypothetical).

Would you feel any safer?

I wouldn't, really. I would probably feel less safe, since a lot of criminals now are afraid to do home invasions as they are afraid of owners with guns.

The remaining guns would migrate to the criminals that need them the most, while everyone else would get creative with whatever else they could get their hands on.

Of course, in reality, the government would destroy people's civil liberties and probably not even get 10% of guns off the streets, and we'd have the worst of both worlds.

It is interesting, and seems that premonitions sometimes serve to prepare us in some way.

Some years ago when visiting a friend (whom I wont identify as he was well known), as I was about to walk through his gate I glanced down the road and saw a traffic accident with fire department and ambulance attending. I thought to myself, that must be bad as the fire department are often called when cutting gear is needed.

I knocked on the door and said "hi" and mentioned that there appeared to be a traffic accident just down the road.

Now guaranteed it is not the best way to greet someone in the morning, but it was mentioned, and barely at that.

I noticed he appeared lost in thought, for what was some little while. I was still standing on the steps, but he clearly was not there. And I immediately thought-

"Someone has just walked over your grave".

It wasn't mentioned again, and we simply walked inside. Two weeks later he was killed in a very similar car accident.

I heard this story on CNN over the weekend - it reminded me of the "Final Destination" series of movies....when your time is up, your time is up.

Very sad, she seemed to have a very bright future ahead of her and was the first "face" many of us saw on this tragedy.

There is an interesting article by David Frum on gun control that is pretty thought provoking as well (also on CNN today).

I'm not 100% sure where I fall on gun control....I just hate to see folks where I live, (Rural NY) often with prior felonies, blame the politicians, or the govt, on why they shouldn't be allowed access to them now.

I only hope that there is some review and accountability for how this "kid" in Colorado was able to get such easy access to large amounts of ammunition, materials and weaponry, without triggering any red flags.

(along with the implication of ease for others who share a similar sentiment to cause community carnage....for whatever motivation)

The punishment isn't likely to be anything severe, but they probably will take away the weapon. If they didn't charge him and he later shot himself in the foot going after a menacing hamster or maybe a pine vole, well the police would get in trouble for not doing what they could to stop an accident just waiting to happen.

"I'm not 100% sure where I fall on gun control....I just hate to see folks where I live, (Rural NY) often with prior felonies, blame the politicians, or the govt, on why they shouldn't be allowed access to them now."

Erich N Ave,
A prior felony? The real person whose name you are incorporating in your posting handle certainly does not (this was covered in the comments thread of the Melvin Morse post). You display a remarkable ignorance (willfully?) as to how things work in your rural NY.

Let me make this clear - Erich N. Avedisian has no prior felony conviction; nor does he even have a prior felony arrest. If anyone or any agency says he does, then that is a lie and it is slander. Erich N. Avedisian is planning on addressing these incidents of slander in civil court in due time.

Erich N. Avedisian is legally able to purchase a gun (though not a handgun in NY without a NY pistol permit). He purchased a shotgun, legally, at a gun store in Avon a few months ago. Interesting how he was able to pass the federal firearms background check.

I'll go even further with this; when Erich N Avedisian moved to rural NY from Arizona he owned three hundguns (one of which was his wife's). These handguns had been legally purchased in gun stores in Arizona. In Arizona he and his wife could legally openly carry the guns. He and his wife went further and obtained legal conceal carry permits.

Erich N. Avedisian has legally owned guns since he was a boy. He has never committed a crime with them. He thinks it is stupid to go into rural areas or to go on long trips where one might break down in some strange area or take a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood without the ability to defend himself and his wife. That is all. He is highly trained in gun use and used to be an expert shot before his eyes started to go with age.

When Erich N Avedisian moved to NY he was completely unaware that there could be a place in this country where you would need to beg for permission to own a handgun. When he learned that this is the case in NY he voluntarily surrendered his handguns to Livingston County Sheriffs deputies. This was in 2005 or 2006. His plan was to obtain the proper permit, but he got busy and by the time he had met enough people with clean records to provide references for the permit, his guns had been sold by the Sheriff at their auction.

Then, generally dissatisfied with life in rural NY, he put his land up for sale. It's a nice piece of land in a developing area and he is asking a high, but fair price for it. Certain locals expressed a desire to buy the land, but not at the asking price. Then comes an arrest on felony charges because a rental car employee (unidentified) claims to have found a handgun (Erich N Avedisian has not yet even seen the gun they said they found) in a bag in rental car. If Erich N. Avedisian were to be convicted on the felony charge, he would go to prison. As the primary bread winner and a necessary pair of hands on the farm, his absence would cause the farm to fail and the land could then be purchased at a Sheriff's auction (the Sheriff even gets a piece of the sale proceeds). You put 2 + 2 together.

How would you know anything about this any how? Because you read some bumpkin paper in your bumpkin home town, which, like all things bumpkin, is petty, mean and misinformed as well as badly written.

That fact that you are sneaking around here posting under the handle you used says it all. You're just another no class hick. Worse, you may even be a cop - a hick cop. If you want to know something, why don't you come out and ask? If you want to say something then come out and say it instead of sneaking around using inuendo and tactics that could be contstrued to be vieled threats of some sorts. You're a punk.

Plenty of folks who want permits and don't have any convictions can't get the permits. My wife, who doesn't even have a speeding ticket on her record, had put in for a permit and was denied because she listed 'self defense' as a reason for owning the handgun. That's a no no around here. I am told you have to use 'target shooting' or something if you want a chance.

You're apparently supposed to rely on the cops to protect you, accept they don't come when you call them about tresspassers. Sheriff York's boys do not like to arrest or prosecute rapists and Erich N Avedisian's wife has been cornered by men in her barn. It is difficult to be an attractive fit woman in a community with so many fat slobs. It makes her stand out as a target. One intruder she had to fend off with a pitchfork, which may present a funny image to some, but really isn't funny. Sheriff York's crew would not respond to the call she made to report this.

"Maybe they should require an IQ test rather than a background check?"

Requiring an IQ test in Rural NY would be a de facto ban.

See? Now I am sounding a little more like Dr Morse. This is how these things happens.

Michael if you delete this (and I wouldn't blame you if you did) would you then please either ban the person commenting as Erich N Ave or have him/her change the name.

Regarding premonitions, do they necessarily have to serve a purpose? What if, in some cases, we simply get a sense of something that's about to happen because it packs a big emotional wallop? Sort of like the line in Star Wars: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force."

Synchronicities can be meaningful, but maybe some premonitions or presentiments are just an instinctive reaction grounded in a sixth sense. I've had a number of premonitions too specific to explain away, but most were meaningless and trivial.

It may also be the case that such presentiments are easily drowned out by other emotions or distractions. Perhaps the excitement of attending the midnight show of a blockbuster movie was enough to override any subtle unease that an attendee might be feeling (which could be chalked up to anticipation, or just shrugged off, if it was noticed at all).

Two weeks before 9/11, my brother, who had been working on Wall Street, quit his job and moved back to Canada without telling anyone. The morning of 9/11 we had no idea where he was, but thankfully I was able to finally track him down where he slept through that morning on a friend's couch in Toronto.

I asked him why he up and left so suddenly and he didn't seem to know. He told me that he just didn't feel safe living in the US any more and wanted to come home.

Yes, many of these occurrences could be due to a ripple effect, that occurs through time in a way we don't yet understand, so some sensitive people can pick up the ripples of future events as they track back through time.

With other premonitions, it can often be trivial, but these may still serve as 'training' in that they are indicative of a widening of awareness. Keeping track of the minor coincidences may be a useful exercise to develop precognitave ability.

Lynn I have read those books too and really enjoyed them. I'm sure they are partially the reason why I am deeply suspicious of free will and lean heavily towards fate and predestination. I have read so many articles about precognition and near death experiencers seeing their future and little research studies done at major universities where people being tested see the future and all kinds of weird stuff. A year or two ago I read a really good article in Psychology Today about some study where the participants were predicting or seeing the future. And since it fits so easily in with the holographic universe theory that everything, past, present, and future - exists all at once - sort of like a holographic DVD of our lives I find it very easy to believe in predestination.

Art, I do not think the precognition invalidate the presence of free will, for the following reasons.

First, most of precognition seem to refer to events that do not involve in any acts of human being, as accidents and disasters, so that freedom of choice is not reduced.

Second, most of precognition refer to events near future, hours or days, suggesting that the more distant the future becomes more indeterminate and prevents precognition, as Yoda says to Luke: "Always in motion is the future."

And third, some cases of precognition, but very few indeed, show that the predicted future was changed to act upon the information of precognition, which suggests that the future shown in precognitive experience is not the real future but a virtual future, which is contrary to predestination and favors the open universe. For example, this page that says the case of Chris Sizemore:

Thought I would just add this which goes along a bit with what Michael mentioned i.e. the meaningless and trivial. Or are they ?. I certainly thought some intelligence was working.

On the holiday when we met the Chinese psychic on the train. One evening my mother and sister went one way and I another. I was heading further down to a market area where I had seen a patchwork quilt. And I said to them, I will look for a keyring as I need one, and perhaps I will get a fish (I'm a Pisces I thought, so why not).

When we get back, we show off our purchases, and my mother laughs at the quilt, which I think is probably filled with old rags or something for stuffing, and as I said to my daughter, I am a little worried about what might crawl out of it one day. Don't know were my head was.

Mother says "So did you get your keyring."

And yeas I did! The lady who sold me the quilt handed me a keyring with a fish on the end, she said for free for buying her quilt.

11 years ago, I was writing an email newsletter (how quaint!) for professional clients. About mid-August of 2011, I was struck by this incredible feeling of unease that just got stronger and stronger, like some sort of titanic shift was about to occur.

I wrote an "off topic" newsletter to my clients in late August, saying that I couldn't explain it, but I felt like some extremely negative, world-altering events that would permanently change our lives were about to happen.